All Bodies Are Beautiful?

First off, “All women are real,” is fabulous on its own and is not the part I’m going to focus on here. Also because it’s not the common denominator I’ve seen in most of the messages.

That denominator has been the, “All bodies are beautiful.” Which I don’t hate, but I don’t exactly love, either. Because a lot of times, it’s irrelevant.

Sometimes I think of my body as beautiful; a lot of times I do not. And I am okay with both of those. Moreover, whether or not people perceive me as beautiful does not matter in terms of how I fundamentally expect they should treat me.

Regardless of whether I am beautiful, I expect that I should be able to find clothing appropriate to my body and daily activities.

Regardless of whether I am beautiful, I expect that I should be able to walk or run down the street or in a store without someone insinuating or flat out stating that my appearance is embarrassing, offensive, or that I need to cover up. I mean, this might be a valid course of action were I to go around wearing nothing but “I kick puppies, and I like it!” spread over my naked torso in body paint — but I assure you, that is not the case.

I expect that employers and prospective employers should evaluate me based on my skills and professional competencies rather than how I look in my interview suit.

I deserve to have doctors regard my body size and metabolic health as distinct factors. Similarly, I deserve to have them treat my symptoms seriously, rather than immediately dismissing them as the product of my body size. (Because — and I have mentioned this before — but that broken foot years ago? Yeah, totally slipped on a vibrator. It did not break due to inability to support my weight — just inability to support my weight while stepping on a cylindrical battery operated toy.)

I deserve to have my body not be the butt of jokes or the target of trolls.

I deserve to have people not use my body as a stand in for my physical habits, my mental or emotional habits, my sexual orientation, my sexual practices, my intelligence, my work ethic, or my integrity.

Regardless of whether all bodies are beautiful, all bodies deserve respect.

17 comments on “All Bodies Are Beautiful?”

Well said Tori!
Some days I feel pretty, other days I really don’t. And yeah, the days I’m not feeling pretty, I still want to be treated right. I still want clothes that fit, that are comfortable AND look nice, regardless of the size of my arms or my boobs.

Also, how you slipped on a vibrator? Classy. ;-) What did you actually tell them? I would’ve said it was a rolling pin. And shame on them for not taking you seriously.

Oh, I totally told them I slipped on a vibrator. It was of sufficient quality to have been an… investment piece, and the fall broke the device as well as my foot. At the time, I was more upset about the loss of the vibrator than I was about the injury to my foot. ;)

This post ROCKS. I agree that it’s not about being “beautiful,” as this terms has become synonymous with “approved of”… by WHO!? By people who have been brainwashed by TV… indeed beauty in that sense becomes irrelevant… feeling good in my own body is what has become paramount for me these days. Thanks for sharing this.

Quite often, I don’t feel beautiful, pretty, or whatever else, and it irks me when people automatically assume that means I have a low self-esteem. In all honesty, even when I’m not feeling pretty, I don’t care very much about it, as being pretty is not high on my list of priorities.

The not caring is true for me, too. It’s far more distressing to me when I feel, say, stupid or incompetent or useless. Not that everyone should share my same priorities, either — but no, being pretty is not a universally high priority. :)

Enjoyed the broken foot story – I once broke a toe by literally falling out of bed during a very vigorous sexytime activity, and the same toe again when I stubbed it against a plate weight on the floor while lifting. So glad no one ever suggested either incident was related to my weight!